Allah will love you and forgive you your sins...

Allah will love you and forgive you your sins, and Allah is the Oft-Forgiving, the Most Merciful.’ [^15] Say (), ‘Follow that which has been sent down to you from your Lord, and follow not any guardian other than that.’ [^16] (6) The Verse of Choosing: And your Lord creates whatsoever He wills and chooses. No choice have they in any matter. Glorified be Allah, and Exalted above all that they associate as partners with Him.

[^17] (7) The Verse of Judgment: And Allah judges with truth, while those whom they invoke besides Him cannot judge anything. Certainly Allah is the All-Hearing, the All-Seeing. [^18] These examples from the Noble Qur’an show the characteristics of government which are only for Allah, the Exalted. The commonly repeated phrase “ a la lahu al-’amr wal-hukm ” (is not the command and the judgment His?) also illustrates this point.

The most important characteristics of the leadership of Allah are the guardianship and the command, and He bestows this virtue on whomever He wills. The nature of the khilafah gives the khalifah the privilege to be a guardian over the people and obliges them to obey him. Since the absolute obedience and surrender is only for Allah, then only Allah the Almighty has the right to transfer this power and authority to whomever He wills.Allah says: “O you who believe!

Obey Allah, and obey the Messenger, and those vested with authority over you (’ul ul-’amr minkum). And if you quarrel about something, refer it to Allah and the Messenger.” [^19] But if a person assumes leadership and becomes a caliph or imam by power and intimidation then he will not necessarily be entitled to be a legitimate Muslim leader. Logic dictates that the imam or caliph who succeeds the prophet should be appointed by Allah.

Since Allah puts their obedience at the same level as obedience to Him and His Messenger, therefore not anyone is entitled to become the caliph of the prophet. Islamic history shows that some corrupt people assumed even the office of leadership and the khilafah during the Umayyad and Abbasid dynasties—then could this verse of obedience still apply to them? Would the believing Muslims have to follow these leaders blindly? Would Allah tell the Muslims to follow a corrupt leader and an oppressor?

In some of the hadith books, justification is found for such rulers to rule and a command for the Muslims to listen to them.